SAM knocking out a jumbo jet
One of Clancy's books mentions this, how there are teams of handheld sams protecting the white house (in the book), but they are only capable of knowcking out a light plane. One guy asks why they won't stop and airliner, and the answer he gets is that it is only a tiny missle, and while it might take out a big plane by causing it to lose control at 30,000ft, at low altitude, it wasn't enough to stop the plane. And the guy asks again, why not?
Put it this way, if an 18 wheeler is barreling down on you and is only a few dozen yards away, do you think shooting out one of the tires is going to stop it?
Put that way, the guy understands.
You might be able to take out an airliner on take off or landing with a rifle, if you could hit the pilot, and he crashes the pane before the copilot can grab the controls. You could win the lottery too, and for that, I think your odds are better.
One of Clancy's books mentions this, how there are teams of handheld sams protecting the white house (in the book), but they are only capable of knowcking out a light plane. One guy asks why they won't stop and airliner, and the answer he gets is that it is only a tiny missle, and while it might take out a big plane by causing it to lose control at 30,000ft, at low altitude, it wasn't enough to stop the plane. And the guy asks again, why not?
Put it this way, if an 18 wheeler is barreling down on you and is only a few dozen yards away, do you think shooting out one of the tires is going to stop it?
Put that way, the guy understands.
You might be able to take out an airliner on take off or landing with a rifle, if you could hit the pilot, and he crashes the pane before the copilot can grab the controls. You could win the lottery too, and for that, I think your odds are better.